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Section 4 Techniques and Tools

4.01 General satisfaction surveys and opinion polls

A survey is a systematic gathering of data that uses a questionnaire to gather the same information from each individual service user usually based on a sample drawn from a wider population which may be all tenants, residents or service users or a smaller sub-group. General surveys are useful to get a broad picture of the views of service users on a range of issues.

General tenant satisfaction surveys or opinion polls that take place every three to five years are the most common method used to assess the views of service users, particularly amongst local authorities and larger housing associations. The measurement of satisfaction brings a number of conceptual and practical difficulties.

Satisfaction surveys are often done largely to meet perceived regulatory expectations. Whilst this doesn’t necessarily mean that the data is not useful, the focus may be less on ensuring surveys provide practical, useful local information than on meeting requirements. Often surveys are an attempt to assess general satisfaction, to measure change over time and to build an up- to- date profile of the client base. It will not usually be necessary to conduct a major survey of all tenants or residents every year unless there has been a substantial change to key aspects of service delivery.

Practice point

• Landlords need to take a more strategic approach to the use of general satisfaction surveys. It should be clear how any general satisfaction survey complements other, more regular approaches to consultation.

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